[etni] Phonics is not the only answer!!

Dear Fellow Teachers,

Evidently I hold a minority opinion, but I still think that although phonics is 
a necessary component in reading, it is only one small part of reading. Many 
words can't be sounded out. Good readers use a variety of strategies to figure 
out an unfamiliar word, for example, skipping the word and reading ahead for 
the meaning of the sentence, then coming back and figuring out the word.

I believe we must try to simulate a natural language learning environment as 
much as possible in our classrooms by speaking almost exclusively in English 
and doing exercises that encourage the students to actually speak and 
communicate the language. So often I have walked into English classrooms and 
heard the teacher speaking only Hebrew to the class. Teach phonics, teach sight 
words, give them real books to read with pictures, give them dialogues and 
poems to read and practice out loud,  play and teach the meaning of lots of 
English songs, and most importantly, speak English!

Leah
http://www.morahleahmusic.com


----- Original Message -----
  From: Hadas Y
  To: tamarnahari@xxxxxxxxx
  Cc: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 10:12 PM
  Subject: [etni] Re: Fw: Once again reading!


        Hi,
        I do not think there is such a thing as an "excellent coursebook", 
however, I believe that "Sound Reading 1" does a good job in teaching how to 
read. Of course, extra practice is necessary and warranted, but from the 
options available, I do believe that it is a good choice. The vocabulary taught 
is not difficult and the book abides by the phonetic method of reading.
        Hadas



        Best regards,
        Hadas




        --- On Tue, 9/23/08, Tamar Nahari <tamarnahari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

          From: Tamar Nahari <tamarnahari@xxxxxxxxx>
          Subject: [etni] Re: Fw: Once again reading!
          To: ask@xxxxxxxx
          Cc: "ETNI" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
          Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 9:50 AM


          Which "excellent coursebook" do you reccomend?


          On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 8:04 PM, Ask_Etni <ask@xxxxxxxx> wrote:


            ----- Original Message -----
            From: byk - byk@xxxxxxxxxxxx
            Subject: Once again reading!

            I hope I am not becoming a bore.  This is in reply to Sandra's very 
detailed
            letter.  Thank you Sandra.

            I have never taught 35 elementary school pupils to read (decode), 
but I have
            taught a wild class of 15 dislectic 7th graders who could not 
decode at the
            beginning of the year, and could, by the end of the year.  This 
included an
            extremely dislectic boy, who could barley read Hebrew.  At the end 
of the
            year he could read English better than Hebrew.

            Now I am NOT talking about vocabulary, reading strategies, or 
language
            acquisitiion, but ONLY about decoding.  It is this skill that 
brings about a
            situation in which 22 out of 35 pupils need the dispensation of 
being read
            to.

            I DO believe that an excellent course book, based on phonics, with 
tons of
            exercises, which also provides work for the quicker learner, can 
solve the
            problem for most teachers and pupils.  The pupils must have a lot 
to occupy
            them during the class time.  Learning to read and write takes time.
            Vocabulary will be learned at the same time - slowly, which is 
good.  The
            children who pick up languages easily will continue to do so, but 
everybody
            in the class will have something to do, and will be learning.  At 
least
            thenumber of pupils who need to be read to will be cut drastically.

            Jennifer



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